lördag, april 11, 2009

Moving house

In a week I shall be moving house. From my 1970ies suburban Botkyrka, Bothwid’s church with 8 storey buildings built by the same Swedish company /the BPA; Byggproduction AB, the Buil-ding Production Ltd) which built many houses in Communist Poland and the DDR, to the ancient village on Styrsö or Steering Island (the Vikings used a cairn on it as a mark to go to the big Slave market on neighbouring Brännö (Burnt Island?).

Most everything is upside down at the moment. Yesterday I pac-ked the china. Tree big boxes full. About half of the books are done. It will be some 80 paper bags in total.

I’ve already sold two off of the book-cases (they are much too tall to take, the room which I intend to have for my library is just 185 centimeters high - Papa wasn't able to stand in it). Five book-cases remain, but we’ll see about that. Doesn’t seem much of a market for book-cases, or indeed anything, just now.

The lorry comes to Botkyrka this Thursday and arrives on the island by ferry on Monday, 8 days. I take the train next Saturday with little Casper in his cage. He detests the underground and the tram - they are too shaky and make too much noice, but last time he slept in the train ;=) Hopefully I shall be able to organise a bit in the house before the lorry turns up.

The house is our old summer cottage, a late medieval type log cabin, built in 1811, our neighbour Lisa Jonason always said. Three sections, vestibule and kitchen in the middle, a room to either side of about 22 square meters, 2 bedchambers in the attic.

I shall do some repairs, of course. Take down an old cupboard-wardrobe, put up some wall paper (William Morris), put in a shower and a washing machine in the attic. Also, redo the kitchen and fill in a couple of very secondary doors, adding a cat door for little Casper.

Then it is the garden which has died almost completely in recent years when my parents rarely went. When we were children there were Apple trees (Transparente blanches, red Winter apples clim-bing on the cliff, & c.). A Sour Cherry tree, a Pear tree (which long-time was too young to give any fruit), a Plum tree (Victoria), and berries of all kinds.

There also were a few Farmer's Paeonia and a very beautiful old Rose bush with plenty of small, fragrant roses. They were a very light pink but otherwise like these.

Also the flower bed by the gate is gone. So is much of the gate it-self, and part of the fence...

But the outhouse (the one still standing) is full…

So I shall probably be silent from approximately Thursday next to the following Monday or Tuesday.

20 kommentarer:

God speed. I sailed through the archipelago near Stockholm last May, the islands were beautiful. I see this is much further south. I spent a night in Gothenburg on my previous visit to Sweden way back in 1974.

Oh Göran, your move sounds wonderful, inspiring and touches my heart...how I wish we were there to help you sort things out, I´m quite the decorator and Juan Carlos would have everything ship shape in a few days (he´s a tad obsessive, but we´ll over look that)...happy everything, I´ll be thinking of you...stay safe and keep your head down in the library.

So es-klärúntäs would very plausibly be the opposite to “receive”, and thus in a way “closed itself to the words of the Lord” (which is the following half-verse ;=), but I have no Greek Lexicon at hand (except the one in the Stuttgart Novum).

At Lund I could compare not only the English Liddel-Scott (generally very bad, read sexualised), but the French Père Chantraine (very good, 1960ies to 1990ies), the Italian, the German, the Latin…

Erika, I would be very much obliged to recieve you and Susan. And the girls, of course! Dearest Erika and Susan!

It is a lovely spot, a crossing between a Swedish, late 19th century Binz (Rügen) - though the old Restaurant and the Hotel are gone - and Arcadia, sheep gazing (with their lambs ;=) in the big field outside!

A bit archaic on the standard, though... for a while yet - but there is running water in the cabin since a few years back!